


Campfire, Witchcraft, and Limoncello

by LilacsAndLilies



Series: Tumblr Asks/Prompt Fill Drabbles [8]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Camping, Drinking, Drinking & Talking, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:27:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25654393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilacsAndLilies/pseuds/LilacsAndLilies
Summary: Arthur really shouldn't have been surprised anymore. What Morgana wanted, Morgana got. That somehow included convincing all of Arthur's friends to come along on a camping trip somewhere in the vast forests their father owned.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Morgana & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: Tumblr Asks/Prompt Fill Drabbles [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1674778
Comments: 20
Kudos: 119





	Campfire, Witchcraft, and Limoncello

Arthur really shouldn't have been surprised anymore. What Morgana wanted, Morgana got. That somehow included convincing all of Arthur's friends to come along on a camping trip somewhere in the vast forests their father owned. She said it was to celebrate the end of the semester, but Arthur was fairly certain that being out of college for the summer wasn't the only reason she was doing this. 

As kids, he and Morgana had gone out in the forest several times, pretending to be knights and bandits and all sorts of other things, but Arthur had left that behind in his childhood along with the rest of the pretend games and camping trips. 

Now, here he was again, back in the forest with his friends and Morgana's friends all gathered around a yet unlit campfire, tents and sleeping bags littering the floor around him. Arthur was sure they never would have found a clearing big enough for all of them naturally, but he knew his sister well enough, could recognize the glimmer of gold in her eyes as the ground cleared up and they all found space to settle down. 

Nightfall slowly began to fall and Arthur pulled himself away from his conversation with Leon to see his sister, seated on the other side of the campfire, lean into the ear of the boy next to her, giggling. Arthur had met many of Morgana's friends, several of them even becoming his own. There was no one here he didn't know. No one except the raven-haired boy that Morgana was sitting next to. He watched as the boy's lips twitched up in response. Then his eyes flared gold and the campfire lit up, the flames blazing and growing to match the size of the large pit cleared out for it. Arthur's gaze lingered on the boy, and he couldn’t help but notice that there, with the fire's light glowing on his face and a faint ring of gold still in his eyes, he looked ethereal. He had seen Morgana and her half-sister use magic, but he had rarely seen others do so, and watching this stranger look so effortlessly powerful while casting magic was something that left Arthur staring. 

A bag of marshmallows began to be passed around as the fire roared. There must have been at least 15 people there, all in their own little conversations as they sat or stood around. Arthur watched Morgana continue to talk to the stranger for a bit before eventually leaving him to talk to the girls instead. Eventually, Elyan pulled Arthur into a conversation, and by the time the blond looked back at the stranger, Lancelot was talking to him. 

Arthur tried, he really did, to pay attention to his own conversations. But every time the words lulled he found himself looking back at the objectively handsome stranger (Arthur was no idiot, he wouldn't deny that the boy had a certain charm to him). And apparently, the mysterious stranger got around. He had talked to nearly everyone here and Arthur was starting to wonder if he was the only one who didn't know the boy. 

The sky was more than pitch black now and Arthur knew it was getting late. The S'mores and other charred food had run out, but wherever Gwaine was, alcohol was soon to follow, and eventually, Arthur felt Gwaine thrust a plastic cup in his hand. He looked over to see the stranger sitting alone and made a split-second decision. "Hey, Gwaine, give me another cup."

Gwaine gave him a confused look, but it was one that turned to glee as he saw where Arthur's eyes had lingered. "Good for you mate. Best of luck with that." He gave Arthur another cup before walking over to Elena with a flirtatious grin.

Arthur braced himself, taking a deep breath as he walked over to the other side of the campfire. He debated what to do for a few seconds before inevitably sitting down next to the stranger. The boy turned to face him, his head tilted slightly to the side and his eyes scrunched. Arthur smiled. "Gwaine is handing out drinks, thought you'd want one."

The confusion on his face didn't lift but he did cautiously take the cup from Arthur's outstretched hand, so Arthur considered that a win. "I think you're the only one here I don't know, so I thought I would get to know you."

The rest of the confusion dissipated and the stranger gave him a wide smile. "I was thinking the same about you." He stretched out an arm and Arthur shook it. "I'm Merlin, I'm in Morgana's applications of Magic class."

The name rang a bell in Arthur's head. "Morgana talks about you a lot, says you're one of the smartest kids in the class."

The boy - Merlin - blushed red, but the color was only barely visible, courtesy of the glowing fire. "She's exaggerating."

Arthur scoffed. "She likes to stretch the details a lot, but she would never compliment someone if she didn't mean it."

"Thank you." Merlin smiled at him and Arthur felt a distinctly warm feeling inside of him that he was fairly certain wasn’t because of the fire.

"I'm Arthur, Morgana's brother." Technically, they were half-siblings, but he wasn't about to air out all of that dirty laundry right there and then. 

Merlin's eyes grew wide. "Oh Morgana talks about you a lot. Says you're annoying as fuck." He paused, but before Arthur could begin to defend himself, he continued. "I think she actually wanted to introduce us today, must have gotten busy."

Arthur looked over to where Morgana was huddled with a group of girls. She looked at him and winked and Arthur had a feeling he knew what her master plan was here. He glared at her before turning back to Merlin. "She's like that."

He took a sip of his drink, enjoying the strong lemon taste. Gwaine was from Italy, and regardless of his penchant for any type of strong alcohol, Limoncello had always been one of the man's personal favorites, and being friends with him meant learning to love the drink. "So, what are you majoring in?"

The conversation took off there. Arthur didn't know how long they had been talking, but it was nice. Talking to Merlin was easy and comfortable in a way few conversations ever were to me. The drinks kept coming and they kept talking about near everything. Two in the morning was the best time to get to know someone, something Arthur was starting to see very clearly. 

As the night went on, people began to leave, settling into their own tents. Morgana was one of the last to leave, winking at them yet again. Arthur glared at her again, making a rude gesture when Merlin left to get a new drink. He wasn't really mad, not when it led him to meet someone he clicked with so instantaneously, but it was the principal of the matter. He couldn’t just let her get away with things. 

Soon enough, the only ones left there were him and Merlin. Neither of them were... drunk per se, they hadn't had enough drinks for that. But they definitely were tipsy, and tipsy Arthur was well known for doing stupid things. 

“... and then Morgana came in screaming at me, like the harpy she is. All I did was take one page out of her notebook.”

Merlin laughed, and Arthur wanted nothing more but to keep him laughing and smiling. “You prat.” It was clearly intended to be an insult, but the word had no heat behind it as Merlin continued to laugh.

“Hey! It was one page.”

Merlin gave him a pointed look. “It was the table of contents, seems like the most important part of the book.”

“I still didn’t deserve her yelling at me for the next week straight.” Arthur absolutely was not pouting, he just wanted Merlin to tell him he was in the right, even if he clearly wasn’t.

“Sounds like Morgana.” 

The conversation lulled to a silence. Merlin looked at the dying fire. “I think we should go to bed. It’s too late for this.”

Arthur hummed in agreement, the alcohol still making itself known in his head and in his veins. “Merlin?” The raven-haired boy turned to face him a look that was equally fond and questioning. Arthur continued. “I think Morgana did all of this to set us up.”

Merlin’s eyes grew wide. “Is that why she kept winking at me?”

Arthur nodded seriously. “And you know, I don’t like most of her plans, but I do like this one.”

“Oh do you?” Merlin shifted a little closer. Arthur hummed in agreement. “Then you won’t mind if I do this.” Arthur changed his mind, he was definitely drunk, because he didn’t even realize what was happening until Merlin’s soft lips were pressed to his. Beside them, he could faintly tell that the fire had gone out, plunging them into darkness. But it didn’t matter, because Merlin’s skin was warm and more than close enough to keep Arthur from shivering. Merlin’s hands wrapped themselves around Arthur’s neck and it was a while longer before they finally pulled apart.

“That was nice,” Arthur whispered. 

“Yeah, it was.” Merlin smiled at him before getting up. “Good Night Arthur.” His eyes glowed gold for a split second before he walked away and into his tent.

Arthur looked down to see a number etched onto the log Merlin had been sitting on. He grinned. Maybe he would give Morgana a thank you gift instead.

**Author's Note:**

> Talk to me on tumblr @lilacsandlilies4  
> or on discord @LilacsAndLilies#4691


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